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SPORTS
Herd lands talented guard in Peña
Dagoberto “Dago” Peña , the Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s 2007-08 boys basketball player of the year, finally has settled on a college. Marshall University.
Peña , a 6-foot-6 point guard, signed Friday to play for the Thundering Herd and he’s due in Huntington on Tuesday for summer school, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported on its website. Peña played for Charlotte High School in Punta Gorda, Fla. Rivals.com ranked him No. 141 in the Class of 2008.
On Nov. 14, Peña signed with Florida Atlantic University along with his good friend Shay Shine (DeSoto High). On April 14, Owls coach Rex Walters departed to become head coach at San Francisco. Mike Jarvis, former coach at St. John’s at George Washington, replaced Walters. The coaching change prompted Peña to request and receive an official release from his Florida Atlantic scholarship. Shine did the same thing.
“I was really happy about going to FAU with my best friend (DeSoto’s Shay Shine),” Peña told Herald Tribune correspondent Donnie Wilkie. “I was sad when everything fell apart, but now I’m playing in (Conference USA) with better teams like Memphis.”
Peña made visits to Marshall, South Carolina and George Mason before he selected the Herd. Shine has signed to play at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
“Florida Atlantic took so long to release (Peña), we were left with only 10 or 11 days to squeeze in three (official) visits,” said Matt Ramker, founder of the adidas-sponsored Florida Rams, Pena’s travel team.
The Dominican-born Peña, 20, will join a Thundering Herd freshman class that includes fellow Floridians Kore White and Nigel Spikes (from Class 5A champion Fort Lauderdale Dillard) and Shaquille Johnson (Jacksonville Robert E. Lee).
Marshall finished 16-14 overall and 8-8 in C-USA last season under first-year coach Donnie Jones. Tulane beat the Herd in the first round of the C-USA Tournament. The former Marshall assistant spent 11 years under Billy Donovan at Florida.
“I felt comfortable with coach Jones and the whole staff when I met them,” Peña said. “It’s a good opportunity for me to play right away. (Jones) knows how to make me better and help me get to the next level.”
Peña averaged 21 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals for the back-to-back 5A-District 12 champion Tarpons (24-6), who won all 35 games he played against Southwest Florida opponents during his two seasons. He finished second in the Florida Dairy Farmers’ 5A Mr. Basketball voting, pouring in 35 points in a 64-57 upset of eventual 6A state titlist Miami Norland on Jan. 18 and a school-record 42 at the Arby’s Classic in Bristol, Tenn., a month earlier.
